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In a timely fashion, SWTOR Spy has come through for us all and churned out a talent calculator that reflects the PTS patch 2.0 changes. F2P players and subscribers alike can now start sharing Rise of the Hutt Cartel build speculations.

I noticed the other day that RendolpheGamer, who regularly posts Ranked Warzone match videos, is looking to start a PvP show on Youtube for Star Wars: The Old Republic. As someone who regularly plays ranked and unranked warzone brackets and open world PvP on multiple classes, he seems to have some insights to share about the state of the game. And with this show, he wants to feature highlights with interesting plays, instructive clips and more. Read More

For XBox users who are interested in getting Mass Effect 3: Citadel (1200 MSP = $15) at a slight discount, Newegg is selling 1200 MSP digital codes (i.e. instant delivery) for 15% off with promo code 15OFFXBOXLIVE. This takes the net cost of Citadel down to $12.75 and you don't have to contend with leftover MSP currency, nice and neat.

Mass Effect 2 (Playstation 3) is also being featured as a weekly gaming deal for 40% off ($12). The PS3 version of Mass Effect 2 uniquely includes most of Mass Effect 2's premium DLC (except for Arrival).

On the branded peripheral front, Newegg is offering the premium Razer SWTOR gaming headset for 46% off ($70). It's their first week of Razer sales, so it's possible that we'll be seeing some Dragon Age and Mass Effect branded products in subsequent weeks.

Imagine my excitement when I saw the announcement for the SWTOR Public Test Server Patch 2.0 release (Rise of the Hutt Cartel preview). Imagine my disappointment when I found out - after dealing with the usual launcher issues, downloading 20GB of PTS client data, and having one of my characters copied over to the PTS - that F2P players are ineligible to log into the "open" PTS server. I guess F2P players not being allowed to post in any of the official forums, including the PTS forum, should've been my first clue. Current guestimates peg the expansion/2.0 launch window anywhere between 5-8 weeks from now.

First update to my SWTOR Mirror Skill Translator. The most notable change is the internal addition of term matching priority, which allows more terms to be matched correctly, but the lexicon tweaks should also be a helpful addition for "translating" guides. Read More

To prepare for the upcoming release of Rise of the Hutt Cartel, the Bioware Houston team is unleashing a month a XP boosts on weekends for all players. If you're looking to get some alts to 50 before the expansion drops, this is a great opportunity to get some levels under their belts - as this promotion stacks with other XP boosts as well. Read More

Spurred by the need to compile class changes in order to update my SWTOR Mirror Skills Translator, I'll be posting a series of overview articles to detail the class changes currently on the Public Test Server, many of which are not detailed in the patch notes, and what you can expect when the Rise of the Hutt Cartel expansion is released. Let's start with the Powertech (Empire) and its counterpart, the Vanguard (Republic). Read More

Here's another update to my Star Wars: The Old Republic Mirror Skills Translator. The biggest addition is an auto-suggest lookup box, which allows you type in a partial skill name or acronym and have it suggest abilities that match that phrase. Read More

Sometimes I'm really bad with acronyms. Okay, maybe most of the time. Reading any in-depth SWTOR guides written by players of the faction opposite of what I was playing at the time was like trying to read a foreign language, and I had to have a reference site open in another tab just to frequently look up skill names. For that reason, I scripted this search-and-replace tool to help with the "translation" process, allowing to you input an arbitrary block of text and have all of the selected class's skill and talent names translated to its mirror faction equivalent. It even takes it a step further by adding corresponding skill tooltips for your reference. Read More

Weigh In

Karissa Barrows, project manager of the Mass Effect Cast Cosplay Initiative, has created a Facebook group for anyone interested in seeking guidance and entry into the world of cosplaying BioWare game characters:

A community for ALL BioWare cosplayers, cosplay aficionados, and those who want to cosplay but desire a little guidance while starting up. There will never be charters, admins (beyond cleaning up spam and what have you), elitism, or anything otherwise of that nature here. What there WILL be is a group of super fun people who love cosplay and BioWare ready to share their efforts and help with yours.

The second installment of ticktockbebop's Controlz Sniper PvP video series showcases many of the things I love about a good SWTOR PvP video. Plenty of people have compiled highlight reels of their most glorious moments playing just about any class, but very few of them actually take the time to include commentary or annotations their videos, and thus teach by example. What a regular player like me wants to see - beyond the basics of gearing, specs, and stats talk - is a solid grasp of class gameplay mechanics and objective-oriented gameplay: ideas on how to use your class effectively to win a fight or match, especially against the odds and without a pocket healer. Read More